Experienced Teachers Left Behind in NC Pay Raise

Education Week reports that while North Carolina is making a move to raise teacher pay, the most experienced teachers there are being left behind:

Lawmakers say teachers would see, on average, 4.7 percent pay bumps, as a result of the new budget bill. Officials estimate that the move would bring the state’s average teachers’ salary to $50,000, when local contributions are included, reports the Associated Press. But teachers who have been in the classroom for 25 or more years would see little or no pay increases, with the state salary schedule’s maximum barely nudging from $50,000 to $51,000.

Not surprisingly, the North Carolina Association of Educators and veteran teachers are not impressed:

“From year 25 to retirement veteran teachers will receive the same pay, whether they retire at 30 years or 45 years,” Debi Beckman, a veteran teacher in Buncombe County, told the Citizen-Times of Ashville. “No raise. Nothing. In 2010 a teacher with 33 years experience made $52,550. Today a teacher with 33 years experience makes $51,000. How did salaries go down for our most experienced educators.”

So, they didn’t change starting pay and they made long-term teaching less attractive. Not exactly the best way to recruit and retain great teachers.